Technology to Assess Vulnerable Older Adults With Cancer and Their Caregivers

Sixty percent of all cancer diagnoses and 70% of all cancer mortality occurs in patients age
65 and older. Patients older than age 65 years have an 11-fold increased cancer incidence and
a 16-fold increase in cancer mortality in comparison to those younger than 65 years. The
population at risk is growing rapidly: the number of adults age 65 years and older is
expected to double in the next 30 years. In order to adequately care for this growing
population of older adults, oncologists need an assessment tool that provides information
regarding an older individual's "functional age" rather than just "chronological age." The
Geriatric Assessment Tool developed by Hurria and colleagues has been found to help identify
those older adults who are more vulnerable to complications from cancer treatment.

The Geriatric Assessment Tool takes into account well validated measures of functional
status, co-morbid medical conditions, cognitive function, psychological state, nutritional
status, social activity, and social support. Pilot data demonstrates the feasibility of this
assessment which can be completed in less than 30 minutes; however, this assessment is
completed by pencil and paper, and therefore requires an interviewer to deliver, score, and
summarize the assessment results. The development of a computer based Geriatric Assessment
Tool would have practical importance for both research and clinical practice. It could
potentially allow more efficient data collection and analysis in the research setting. In
turn it would potentially influence clinical decision making by medical oncologists given its
ability to predict chemotherapy related toxicity among geriatric oncology patients across all
tumor types.

Two electronic platforms have been developed for the Geriatric Assessment Tool:

1. Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) is a secure website designed by Vanderbilt
University that is used by 48 countries, and 511 institutions around the world including
research centers that comprise the Cancer and Aging Research Group. REDCap is a
web-based application that allows researchers to build and manage online surveys and
databases. It also provides a central web-based forum where data can be processed
uniformly and efficiently. Administering the Geriatric Assessment Tool through REDCap
would potentially improve data collection and analysis for elderly cancer patients
across multiple research centers.

2. Support Screen is a program developed by researchers and information technology
specialists at City of Hope utilizing touchscreen technology to deliver patient surveys.
The touchscreen platform has been used in previous studies as a means of assessing the
needs of cancer patients. Support Screen is an attractive technology given it is user
friendly for patients and has the unique capability of transferring information from the
touchscreen device directly into the City of Hope medical record system in a secure,
HIPPA-compliant manner, thereby providing clinicians and researchers real time access to
survey information. A pilot study looking at the feasibility of delivering the Geriatric
Assessment to elderly cancer patients using Support Screen has been performed at City of
Hope with promising results, but the reliability and validity of this modality have yet
to be studied.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients age ≥65 with any performance status

- Diagnosis of cancer (solid tumor or hematologic malignancy)

- Able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-English speaking because some components of the geriatric assessment tool have not
yet been validated in other languages.